Jan 17, 2024

My Experience with Revvi as a Parent

As a parent of a now 6 year, bikes have been a massive apart of my boys life from a very early age. He had a traditional balance bike at 18 months to which he would not leave alone. I am sure if he could he would have taken it to bed with him.

For me, learning to balance is one of the first major obstacles for any kid, whether it be when learning to walk or riding a bike. In my experience, the balance bike gave my son the confidence to know he could balance. However when it came to his 2nd birthday, he was lucky enough to get his first pedal bike with stabilisers, he would fly around on it for hours. We would go to and from nursery on it everyday (200 yards down the road) but any excuse to be on it he would be outside riding! After 6 months, I decided it was time to start playing around with the stabilisers.

This was a completely different story as there was nothing I could do to convince him to remove them or even touch them. It was another good 12 months before he would let me take them off, and even then he would not have the confidence for me to let go of him or to go it alone. He knew he could do it, I knew he could do it, however, he just didn’t trust he could. Until one day, I thought about how confident he was on his balance bike, racing it around like it was nothing! So for his 4th birthday, I purchased him a 12” Revvi electric balance bike. This is probably one of the best purchases I have ever made for my son to date, and if you ask anyone that has one, I am sure they will tell you the same.

I don't know who was more excited, me or my boy but the morning of his birthday we built the Revvi togther in the garden. He helped tighten the bolts once the handle bars were on, and also attempted to try and use a hand pump to fill the tyres with air! My favourite part of this was that he got to stick his name and number he wanted for the number board on the front of the bike... He was amazed and so happy he had a bike with his name on it!
I set it to the lowest speed set on the 12 inch Revvi which is 5mph, and raised the bike so the rear wheel was off the ground, got him to sit on the bike and showed him what the throttle did when he twisted it back. After a few minutes of him snapping open the throttle and letting it off as if he was just about to set off to start the fastest lap of the Isle of Man TT.

By this time he wanted to have ago on the grass… so I got the bike off the stand and gave him the bike, I didn’t say anything I just I stood by him and watched him trying to figure out how to get moving using the throttle without falling over. He sat on the bike brace himself for a second or two, then put both feet of the footpegs then twisted the throttle. Now, because of how the bike is designed, the throttle response isn’t quick enough to get them going in this manor until they get used to how it sets off… He did this about 5/6 times until he realised what was happening, then he pushed off and twisted the throttle! You would have to see it to believe it, but he was up and off tentatively around the garden. I couldn’t believe how well he was doing! I was blown away by the fact it was all in his head about being able to balance on his own, so much so, the curious side of me wanted to see how he would get on, on his pedal bike.

I left him for a few minutes in the garden, while I went and removed the stabilisers of his bike, by this time he came round to the front of the house with the Revvi riding round the cul-de-sac, I just left his push bike next to were I was stood, I didn’t say or do anything just to see what he would do. After about 15/20 mins, he came over dropped the Revvi on the floor and jumped on his pedal bike. Lo and behold…it was like he knew how to ride it the whole time! No winging, just up and off!! I don’t even think he even noticed his stablizers weren’t on the bike!So 20 minutes on a Revvi, and the last 12 months of him not trusting his own abilities was now all in the past! Max turns 7 in August, he is the youngest in his class, he was the first kid by far to be able to ride his bike with no stabilisers and some of the kids that can now have no where near his confidence or level of control. Granted, he rides his bike every morning on the way to school, but I believe that electric balance bikes, give kids a different type of confidence.

One example of this is having a throttle! Max learnt throttle control at such a young age that he can jump on any electric bike or quad now, and just ride it straight away and be responsible. Not because I demand it, but because over the years, he has pushed his own boundaries and learn what he is capable of. He is no future Carl Foggarty or Tommy Searle but it gives me such a sense of relief knowing that he can jump on any bike electric or not, and have fun while being safe at the same time.

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